There are five Vital Record Registers: citizenship, birth, marriage (and divorce), civil unions (between people of the same sex), and death. The Vital Records Office of an Embassy or Consulate is the institution competent — similarly to Italian Municipalities — for registering, recording, and maintaining all vital records.
In particular, consular offices receive certificates and records issued by foreign authorities and forward them to the relevant Italian Municipalities for transcription into the Italian civil registry system. Vital records concerning events that occurred abroad may be submitted either directly by the interested parties, or by anyone with a legitimate interest, to the relevant Italian Municipality (see Article 12, paragraph 11, Presidential Decree 396/2000) or to the competent Consular Office (either the office responsible for the applicant’s place of residence or the office within whose jurisdiction the records were issued).
In addition to managing the five Civil Vital Record Registers, the Vital Records Department of consular offices assists citizens residing within the consular jurisdiction with the following procedures:
- Preparation of marriage banns and publication on the consular notice board;
- Celebration of consular marriages, provided that the parties reside within the consular jurisdiction and that local laws do not prohibit it;
- Forwarding applications for changes of first name or surname to the competent Provincial Governments;
- Receiving and forwarding separation and divorce judgments to the competent Municipalities for registration.
All Italian citizens, whether residing abroad or not, are required to promptly request the registration of any event that results in changes to their vital records.
As all certificates issued by the Chinese authorities must be certified by a Notary Office and apostilled by the competent Foreign Affairs Office, applicants are advised to consult the page regarding the translation and legalization of documents.